is the word 'cracker' racist?

[Bagatur]

personally, I dont think that name calling is racist, so I say no.

 

[spamking]

No it doesn't.

And no to your 2nd question. Why add it unless you are categorizing all those of Polish decent as dumb? Why would race factor into their intellect? It shouldn't and that's why it's racist.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree . . . people can say "dumb redneck" "dumb Okies" "drunk Indians", etc all they want. Just because I was born and live in Oklahoma and am part Indian doesn't mean I automatically jump to the conclusion that whoever said those things thinks every redneck is dumb, etc.

Heck, when I hear about certain stories on the news I have been known to say those exact things . . .

 

[spamking]

dont be a cracker

Townhouse or Saltine?

Be careful how you answer that . . . :icon_neut

 

[Cherdawg]

It depends how you feel about honkeys fugue.

 

[SMillard]

Well, the term "racist" means a belief in hierarchies of the races. That racial group A is superior to racial group B. You can be racist and never use a racist term, it's a mindset. In fact, you can be racist and never be hateful. Someone might believe that people of a racial origin are inferior to people of another origin but not dislike the inferior group of people. Similar to how we all like our pets but we don't consider them the equals of humanity.

By contrast, bigotry is when you look down on one race as a group. It means more than just thinking one group is superior, it's going so far as to actually dislike another group entirely (usually based on stereotypes but sometimes other reasons)

You can simply look up the 2 terms in any dictionary. Racism and bigotry center around beliefs and actions towards the group as a whole, not the individual.

the definitions of racism and bigotry have very little to do with it.

This comes down to intent and perception. Someone could be a racist and/or bigoted and never convey it. Then you could also have someone that by their intent did not convey it but it was perceived by an offended party.

The "cracker mean poor white people" excuse kind of kills the "cracker is a reference to a slave owner" origin. First off the Berbers, Persians and Arabs had the African slave trade running centuries before the Europeans joined the game, yet never heard anyone of any of those ethnicities. Unless I'm missing something about the abundant poor white slave owners throughout history that have their own part in history.

Trying to justify it to individuals rather than a broad stroke over a whole group makes as much sense as the people that make the argument "there are black people and their are N-words" so basically they try to break it down to anyone of African lineage that acts in a manner they don't like or does something they don't consider a socially acceptable norm is automatically categorized as "the n-word", dark skinned individual cuts them off in traffic, there's an N-word.

I have been called the name "cracker", again usually with some other descriptives attached. I don't fly into a rage about it but in the back of my mind that is a person I will be very wary of dealing with and will do nothing to go out of my way to help them. Nor do I see any license to use the n-word simply because I have black friends,

 

[weed]

the term "white" should only be used towards Caucasian Americans, all Caucasian non-Americans should just be referred to as "Armpit".



(yes, I'm trolling)

 

[315MMAFighter]

I'm not white skinned, but yea it is, I've said it to a couple different guys back when I was in high school and it never amounted to anything good, a few fights and a couple bad arguments. Of course it got me in trouble

 

[Soul Rebel 2]

Its racist but I dont really care unless its used maliciously against me.

 

[nognognog]

I heard that in some neighborhoods it means "pervert"

:icon_lol:

 

[weed]

what if someone says "crackle ass nickel"?

 

[TheStruggle]

Black people always keeping the white man down....

 

[Islam Imamate]

sure, if you are using a word to stereotype an entire race, that is pretty clearly racist. That said, who cares. We dont have the history of being oppressed, so racist words dont affect white people as strongly.

This is basically my thoughts on the matter. Yes but not a big deal really.

 

[Makani]

"Taking me back to owning land and people, what a drag."

 

[AmericanStryker]

Cracker is a racist word, but are you REALLY offended by it?

 

[JaPo]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree . . . people can say "dumb redneck" "dumb Okies" "drunk Indians", etc all they want. Just because I was born and live in Oklahoma and am part Indian doesn't mean I automatically jump to the conclusion that whoever said those things thinks every redneck is dumb, etc.

Heck, when I hear about certain stories on the news I have been known to say those exact things . . .

You're not necessarily saying ALL rednecks are dumb but you're also not completely separating the two disparaging terms. People use these phrases because they to some extent associate the characteristic with the racial group in that they perceive it to be more recurrent than in their racial group or indeed other racial groups. There is an association inherent to the phrasing of, for example, 'stupid Polack'. It implies that you believe stupidity to be disproportionately prevalent among Polish people by the mere fact you even bother to highlight the person's nationality along with the insult.

'Cracker' is essentially a racist term because it highlights the race of a person in a way that tends to generalise and denigrate. Those saying 'words don't have power' and 'you can choose to be offended by words or not' are barking up the wrong tree. Sure, words don't have any 'inherent' value but this is meaningless because, in reality, words are USED with intent and meaning and thus can and do have implications and effects on people. 'Cracker' is not equivalent (whatever that means) to the n-bomb for a number of already discussed reasons but it remains a racist term.

 

[Calmete]

Lol, so if calling a white person "cracker" isn't racist....what would a person have to do to be racist?

The logic in this thread is really out there.

 

[Horus]

Racism over here - EVIL. Racism over there - thats ok, it's only white folk. Toughen up.


Sounds like equality to me.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

No. The simple use of a word is not racist. If you call someone that word in a manner that implies you dislike them because of their race, then that's racist. Any other use of said words is not racist.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

what would a person have to do to be racist?

You aren't racist if you don't dislike someone for their race. If you never dislike someone's race, then you'll never be racist.

 

[Striderxdj]

Yes it is, but I don't think there are many white people who would actually get offended by it like other racist words.